Gordana Stojićević

Gordana "Goca" Stojićević (married name Janković) is a Serbian folk singer, born in Belgrade on 10 June 1955. Her father came from Kučevo and her mother from Požarevac. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she grew up with her mother, a teacher who worked in many places in eastern Serbia, so her childhood passed in Kučevo, Blagojev Kamen, Neresnica and Kučajna, where she also learned Vlach and some Romanian.

At only twelve she won the Homoljski motivi festival with the Vlach song "Mndra mja". In 1971 she made her first record with the flute player Tihomir Paunović and became a vocal soloist of Radio Belgrade. She trained as a dental technician in Požarevac and then graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. From 1974 to 1977 she sang in the group Đerdan, founded by Mira Vasiljević, before going solo.

She sang at the big festivals of the time: Hit parada in 1975 with "Zapiši u svom srcu" and in later years, Ilidža in 1982 with Duško Kostić and in 1983 with "Moja si ljubav", Raspevana Šumadija in 1988, where she won an award for interpretation, and Hit parada 1992 with "Dano, rano", a duet with Dragan Pantić Smederevac. She counts the ensemble of Radojka and Tine Živković, whom she calls her stage parents, and Mira Vasiljević among her most important collaborators.

Over her career she recorded 20 singles and 16 albums, plus many recordings for Radio Belgrade, and in 2012 PGP RTS released a triple CD of her songs in its series Zapisano u vremenu. Her biggest hits include "Zagrli me i oprosti mi", "Pusti me da nađem srcu lek", "Ja ne mogu bez njega", "Pala ćuprija", "Dobro jutro, Šumadijo", "Jutros mi je ruža procvetala" and "Kopa cura vinograd". Her awards include the Golden Lyre plaque (2018), a SEMUS charter for her contribution to Serbian popular music (2016) and, in 2022, the award of national popular music artist of Serbia. She is retired and occasionally sings in her own restaurant.